Photolithography techniques are used in the production of semiconductor elements and liquid crystal display elements, and these techniques use positive and negative photosensitive resin compositions.
These photosensitive resin compositions are applied, in the form of a coating liquid, to a substrate such as a semiconductor substrate or glass substrate, are subsequently subjected to a suitable drying treatment to form a coating, and are then selectively exposed and then subjected to developing treatment, thereby forming a patterned photosensitive resin coating.
The method used for applying the photosensitive resin composition to the substrate is typically a spin coating method, although in the field of liquid crystal display element production, where the displays continue to increase in size, coating techniques such as coat and spin methods and non-spin methods are starting to be proposed.
In the coating process, the nozzle from which the photosensitive resin composition is discharged, the internal walls of the coating apparatus, the peripheral edge of the substrate, the underside of the substrate, and other piping systems and the like become soiled with the photosensitive resin composition, and consequently a cleaning treatment must be conducted, either periodically or as required.
Particularly in the case of materials containing dispersed pigments, such as the pigment-dispersed photosensitive resin compositions used for forming color filters and black matrix patterns, cleaning and removal is problematic, and the development of a cleaning liquid that exhibits superior cleaning performance has been keenly sought.
Examples of conventional cleaning liquids for pigment-dispersed photosensitive resin compositions include those disclosed in patent references 1 and 2.
[Patent Reference 1]
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2001-188364
[Patent Reference 2]
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2000-273370